Toxicity Profiles

RAGs A Format for Sulfate - CAS Number 14808798

The sulfate ion, SO₄, is one of the major anions occurring in natural waters. The majority of sulfates, with the exception of lead, barium, and strontium sulfates, are soluble in water. Sulfate may be reduced to sulfide, volatilized to the air as hydrogen disulfide, precipitated as an insoluble salt, or incorporated into living organisms. Sulfates are used for a variety of commercial purposes: sulfuric acid for the steel and metal industries, as a reagent in manufacturing processes, and as products such as copper sulfate, which is used as a fungicide and algicide. Sulfate occurs naturally in soils, sediments, and rocks. Sulfates are discharged into surface waters in the atmospheric fallout from coal-fired power plants and from the metallurgical roasting process and is emitted by diesel engines.

The major health effect observed with sulfate ingestion is laxative action. Sulfate itself slowly penetrates mammalian cellular membranes and is rapidly eliminated through the kidneys. The Drinking Water Standards of the U.S. Public Health Service recommend that sulfate in water should not exceed 250 mg/L, except when no more suitable supplies are or can be made available.

No inhalation, or developmental toxicity data were available, and no carcinogenicity data were located.